The Beginning

So, I'm starting the blog well before I even begin my travels.  One of my goals for this study abroad in Japan is to keep a record of what I do, see, and learn.  I also plan on taking loads of pictures, so I'm hoping to be able to put some up here, too.  Part of this is to be able to keep in touch with my family and friends while I'm gone, so y'all don't think I've dropped off the face of the earth.  But part of it is also for me.  I plan on keeping a journal in Japanese while I'm over there, but this will give me an outlet to really record what I mean to say, instead of me just trying to find words that remotely convey what I feel.  Hopefully, it's not way too boring for anybody.  But even if nobody ever sees this, it will be therapeutic for me, at least.

I'm currently sitting in the living room of my quiet apartment, and as I think that in a few days from now, I'll begin my journey to the Far East, it doesn't quite seem real.  I feel the many battle scars I've acquired over the last two and a half years of Japanese study keenly, and I have my passport, study abroad pamphlets, and suitcases all out where I can see them, so I certainly know my preparation has been real.  But it's still strange to think I'll be saying goodbye to my home for nearly two months.  After nearly two years of feeling the Land of the Rising Sun tugging on my soul, though, I'm not about to question the reality.

When I first started studying Japanese, I didn't really think much of it.  Sure, it was going to be the main focus of my undergraduate studies, but what did that mean, really?  No big deal!  Except, by the end of my first semester, I suddenly had this insane urge to go.  Why?  I had no idea.  But that wasn't unusual.  When I first called home to inform my family of my decision to change my major from Classics to Asian Studies and my dad asked, "But, why?" my response was, "I don't know." It's like Japan was calling to me, and at last it's got me in a vice grip that won't let go till mid-June.  Even then, I have a suspicion it won't let me go without a fight.  Hence the title of this blog.

As I began to set up this blog, the one thing that eluded me was a title.  I'm not very good at naming things, I've always struggled to give things titles, from my own fiction to essays for school.  So I let it fester in my brain for awhile, until inspiration hit.  It came when I was trying to explain "kami kakushi" to a friend, which is the Japanese phrase that is translated as "spirited away," as in the fantastic Miyazaki film.  I feel as though something is spiriting me away, pulling me out of my home and into a totally foreign, beautiful world.  I suppose I must feel that way, because my first real encounter with Japan was the film "Spirited Away," which is set in a mystic world heavily influenced by the Heian period of Japanese history.  A part of me thinks, I suppose, that that is what Japan is--a strange mixture of Shinto and Heian clothing, with a healthy dose of Buddhism and their beautiful iconic gardens.  Not to say I deny the definite modernity of Japan's culture, but I still romanticize every once in awhile the nation and people I have devoted most of my life to for the last two and a half years.

Well, now that I've set this blog up to be filled to the brim with sentimental and emotional entries about Japan and me, I'll leave it at that until the ball really gets rolling.  In a few days, I'll be off, heading to the sunny west coast.  Next stop, L.A.!